Chapter 8
The Fossil Record of Fish
Objectives of Chapter 8 for Students:
By studying these objectives and knowing this core information, most students
should be able to pass all of the tests.
1. The student should be able to describe the number of fossil fish collected by museums.
(Page 96)
2. The student should be able to describe how well fish are preserved as fossils. How
much detail can be seen in fish fossils? (Page 96)
3. The student should be able to describe the number of invertebrates that have been
collected by museums. (Page 96)
4. The student should be able to discuss the following points regarding the fish evolution
chart: (Page 96)
-Has the common ancestor of fish been discovered? (See numbers on fish evolution chart)
-Have the intermediate stages between the theoretical common ancestor of all fish
and the different fish families been found? (See numbers on fish evolution
chart)
-Does the fossil record of fish show fossil evidence of one fish changing into
another fish or do fish families appear suddenly without fossilized transitional
ancestors?
5. The student should know how many intermediate animals have been found showing
the intermediate stages between an invertebrate and a fish (or vertebrate). (See end of
Paragraph 2, Page 96)
6. The student should be able to describe what is being said, by scientists who oppose
evolution, about the proposed evolutionary transitional forms for each fish group. (Page
96)
7. The student should be able to describe what is being said by evolution scientists about
the proposed evolutionary transitional forms for each fish group. (Summary of Page 98)
8. Dr. John Long, paleontologist and Head of Science at the Museum Victoria,
(Continued on next page)
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Chapter 8
The Fossil Record of Fish
Objectives of Chapter 8 for Students (continued):
Melbourne, Australia, is a strong proponent of fish evolution and author of the book The
Rise of Fishes: 500 Million Years of Evolution. The student should be able to describe
the fossil evidence, according to Dr. Long, for the transition from invertebrates to the first
backboned fish. (Page 98)
9. The student should be able to describe Dr. John Long’s summary of the fossil evidence
for the origin of the first jawed fish. (Page 98)
10. The student should be able to describe Dr. John Long’s summary of the fossil
evidence for the origin of sharks. (Page 98)
11. The student should be able to describe Dr. John Long’s summary of the fossil
evidence for the origin of spiny fin fish. (Page 98)
12. The student should be able to describe Dr. John Long’s summary of the fossil
evidence for the origin of bony fish. (Page 98)
13. The student should be able to describe Dr. John Long’s summary of the fossil
evidence for the theoretical evolutionary interrelationships of the major groups of fish.
(Page 98)
14. The student should be able to describe which model the fossil record best matches.
(Compare the predictions of each model on Pages 75-76 of Chapter 6 to the actual facts
on Pages 96 and 98.)
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